behind the gym

it was a dull autumn day and jill pole was crying behind the gym.

she was crying because they had been bullying her. this is not going to be a school story, so i shall say as little as possible about jill's school, which is not a pleasant subject. it was "co-educational," a school for both boys and girls, what used to be called a "mixed" school; some said it was not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it. these people had the idea that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they liked. and unfortunately what ten or fifteen of the biggest boys and girls liked best was bullying the others. all sorts of things, horrid things, went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term; but at this school they weren't. or even if they were, the people who did them were not expelled or punished. the head said they were interesting psychological cases and sent for them and talked to them for hours. and if you knew the right sort of things to say to the head, the main result was that you became rather a favourite than otherwise.

that was why jill pole was crying on that dull autumn day on the damp little path which runs between the back of the gym and the shrubbery. and she hadn't nearly finished her cry when a boy came round the corner of the gym whistling, with his hands in his pockets. he nearly ran into her.

"can't you look where you're going?" said jill pole.

"all right," said the boy, "you needn't start -" and then he noticed her face. "i say, pole," he said, "what's up?"

jill only made faces; the sort you make when you're trying to say something but find that if you speak you'll start crying again.

"it's them, i suppose - as usual," said the boy grimly, digging his hands farther into his pockets.

jill nodded. there was no need for her to say anything, even if she could have said it. they both knew.

"now, look here," said the boy, "there's no good us all -"

he meant well, but he did talk rather like someone beginning a lecture. jill suddenly flew into a temper (which is quite a likely thing to happen if you have been interrupted in a cry).

"oh, go away and mind your own business," she said. "nobody asked you to come barging in, did they? and you're a nice person to start telling us what we all ought to do, aren't you? i suppose you mean we ought to spend all our time sucking up to them, and currying favour, and dancing attendance on them like you do."

"oh, lor!" said the boy, sitting down on the grassy bank at the edge of the shrubbery and very quickly getting up again because the grass was soaking wet. his name unfortunately was eustace scrubb, but he wasn't a bad sort.

"pole!" he said. "is that fair? have i been doing anything of the sort this term? didn't i stand up to carter about the rabbit? and didn't i keep the secret about spivvins - under torture too? and didn't i -"

"i d-don't know and i don't care," sobbed jill.

scrubb saw that she wasn't quite herself yet and very sensibly offered her a peppermint. he had one too. presently jill began to see things in a clearer light.

"i'm sorry, scrubb," she said presently. "i wasn't fair. you have done all that - this term."

"then wash out last term if you can," said eustace. "i was a different chap then. i was - gosh! what a little tick i was."

"well, honestly, you were," said jill.

"you think there has been a change, then?" said eustace.

"it's not only me," said jill. "everyone's been saying so. they've noticed it. eleanor blakiston heard adela pennyfather talking about it in our changing room yesterday. she said, `someone's got hold of that scrubb kid. he's quite unmanageable this term. we shall have to attend to him next.'"

eustace gave a shudder. everyone at experiment house knew what it was like being "attended to" by them.

both children were quiet for a moment. the drops dripped off the laurel leaves.

"why were you so different last term?" said jill presently.

"a lot of queer things happened to me in the hols," said eustace mysteriously.

"what sort of things?" asked jill.

eustace didn't say anything for quite a long time. then he said:

"look here, pole, you and i hate this place about as much as anybody can hate anything, don't we?"

"i know i do," said jill.

"then i really think i can trust you."

"dam' good of you," said jill.

"yes, but this is a really terrific secret. pole, i say, are you good at believing things? i mean things that everyone here would laugh at?"

"i've never had the chance," said jill, "but i think i would be."

"could you believe me if i said i'd been right out of the world - outside this world - last hols?"

"i wouldn't know what you meant."

"well, don't let's bother about that then. supposing i told you i'd been in a place where animals can talk and where there are - er - enchantments and dragons - and well, all the sorts of things you have in fairy-tales." scrubb felt terribly awkward as he said this and got red in the face.

"how did you get there?" said jill. she also felt curiously shy.

"the only way you can - by magic," said eustace almost in a whisper. "i was with two cousins of mine. we were just - whisked away. they'd been there before."

now that they were talking in whispers jill somehow felt it easier to believe. then suddenly a horrible suspicion came over her and she said (so fiercely that for the moment she looked like a tigress):

"if i find you've been pulling my leg i'll never speak to you again; never, never, never."

"i'm not," said eustace. "i swear i'm not. i swear by everything."

(when i was at school one would have said, "i swear by the bible." but bibles were not encouraged at experiment house.)

"all right," said jill, "i'll believe you."

"and tell nobody?"

"what do you take me for?"

they were very excited as they said this. but when they had said it and jill looked round and saw the dull autumn sky and heard the drip off the leaves and thought of all the hopelessness of experiment house (it was a thirteen-week term and there were still eleven weeks to come) she said:

"but after all, what's the good? we're not there: we're here. and we jolly well can't get there. or can we?"

"that's what i've been wondering," said eustace. "when we came back from that place, someone said that the two pevensie kids (that's my two cousins) could never go there again. it was their third time, you see. i suppose they've had their share. but he never said i couldn't. surely he would have said so, unless he meant that i was to get back? and i can't help wondering, can we - could we -?"

"do you mean, do something to make it happen?"

eustace nodded.

"you mean we might draw a circle on the ground - and write in queer letters in it - and stand inside it - and recite charms and spells?"

"well," said eustace after he had thought hard for a bit. "i believe that was the sort of thing i was thinking of, though i never did it. but now that it comes to the point, i've an idea that all those circles and things are rather rot. i don't think he'd like them. it would look as if we thought we could make him do things. but really, we can only ask him."

"who is this person you keep on talking about?"

"they call him aslan in that place," said eustace.

"what a curious name!"

"not half so curious as himself," said eustace solemnly. "but let's get on. it can't do any harm, just asking. let's stand side by side, like this. and we'll hold out our arms in front of us with the palms down: like they did in ramandu's island -"

"whose island?"

"i'll tell you about that another time. and he might like us to face the east. let's see, where is the east?"

"i don't know," said jill.

"it's an extraordinary thing about girls that they never know the points of the compass," said eustace.

"you don't know either," said jill indignantly.

"yes i do, if only you didn't keep on interrupting. i've got it now. that's the east, facing up into the laurels. now, will you say the words after me?''

"what words?" asked jill.

"the words i'm going to say, of course," answered eustace. "now -"

and he began, "aslan, aslan, aslan!"

"aslan, aslan, aslan," repeated jill.

"please let us two go into -"

at that moment a voice from the other side of the gym was heard shouting out, "pole? yes. i know where she is. she's blubbing behind the gym. shall i fetch her out?"

jill and eustace gave one glance at each other, dived under the laurels, and began scrambling up the steep, earthy slope of the shrubbery at a speed which did them great credit. (owing to the curious methods of teaching at experiment house, one did not learn much french or maths or latin or things of that sort; but one did learn a lot about getting away quickly and quietly when they were looking for one.)

after about a minute's scramble they stopped to listen, and knew by the noises they heard that they were being followed.

"if only the door was open again!" said scrubb as they went on, and jill nodded. for at the top of the shrubbery was a high stone wall and in that wall a door by which you could get out on to open moor. this door was nearly always locked. but there had been times when people had found it open; or perhaps there had been only one time. but you may imagine how the memory of even one time kept people hoping, and trying the door; for if it should happen to be unlocked it would be a splendid way of getting outside the school grounds without being seen.

jill and eustace, now both very hot and very grubby from going along bent almost double under the laurels, panted up to the wall. and there was the door, shut as usual.

"it's sure to be no good," said eustace with his hand on the handle; and then, "o-o-oh. by gum!!" for the handle turned and the door opened.

a moment before, both of them had meant to get through that doorway in double quick time, if by any chance the door was not locked. but when the door actually opened, they both stood stock still. for what they saw was quite different from what they had expected.

they had expected to see the grey, heathery slope of the moor going up and up to join the dull autumn sky. instead, a blaze of sunshine met them. it poured through the doorway as the light of a june day pours into a garage when you open the door. it made the drops of water on the grass glitter like beads and showed up the dirtiness of jill's tear-stained face. and the sunlight was coming from what certainly did look like a different world - what they could see of it. they saw smooth turf, smoother and brighter than jill had ever seen before, and blue sky, and, darting to and fro, things so bright that they might have been jewels or huge butterflies.

although she had been longing for something like this, jill felt frightened. she looked at scrubb's face and saw that he was frightened too.

"come on, pole," he said in a breathless voice.

"can we get back? is it safe?" asked jill.

at that moment a voice shouted from behind, a mean, spiteful little voice. "now then, pole," it squeaked. "everyone knows you're there. down you come." it was the voice of edith jackle, not one of them herself but one of their hangers-on and tale-bearers.

"quick!" said scrubb. "here. hold hands. we mustn't get separated." and before she quite knew what was happening, he had grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door, out of the school grounds, out of england, out of our whole world into that place.

the sound of edith jackle's voice stopped as suddenly as the voice on the radio when it is switched off. instantly there was a quite different sound all about them. it came from those bright things overhead, which now turned out to be birds. they were making a riotous noise, but it was much more like music - rather advanced music which you don't quite take in at the first hearing - than birds' songs ever are in our world. yet, in spite of the singing, there was a sort of background of immense silence. that silence, combined with the freshness of the air, made jill think they must be on the top of a very high mountain.

scrubb still had her by the hand and they were walking forward, staring about them on every side. jill saw that huge trees, rather like cedars but bigger, grew in every direction. but as they did not grow close together, and as there was no undergrowth, this did not prevent one from seeing a long way into the forest to left and right. and as far as jill's eye could reach, it was all the same - level turf, darting birds with yellow, or dragonfly blue, or rainbow plumage, blue shadows, and emptiness. there was not a breath of wind in that cool, bright air. it was a very lonely forest.

right ahead there were no trees: only blue sky. they went straight on without speaking till suddenly jill heard scrubb say, "look out!" and felt herself jerked back. they were at the very edge of a cliff.

jill was one of those lucky people who have a good head for heights. she didn't mind in the least standing on the edge of a precipice. she was rather annoyed with scrubb for pulling her back - "just as if i was a kid", she said and she wrenched her hand out of his. when she saw how very white he had turned, she despised him.

"what's the matter?" she said. and to show that she was not afraid, she stood very near the edge indeed; in fact, a good deal nearer than even she liked. then she looked down.

she now realized that scrubb had some excuse for looking white, for no cliff in our world is to be compared with this. imagine yourself at the top of the very highest cliff you know. and imagine yourself looking down to the very bottom. and then imagine that the precipice goes on below that, as far again, ten times as far, twenty times as far. and when you've looked down all that distance imagine little white things that might, at first glance, be mistaken for sheep, but presently you realize that they are clouds - not little wreaths of mist but the enormous white, puffy clouds which are themselves as big as most mountains. and at last, in between those clouds, you get your first glimpse of the real bottom, so far away that you can't make out whether it's field or wood, or land or water: farther below those clouds than you are above them.

jill stared at it. then she thought that perhaps, after all, she would step back afoot or so from the edge; but she didn't like to for fear of what scrubb would think. then she suddenly decided that she didn't care what he thought, and that she would jolly well get away from that horrible edge and never laugh at anyone for not liking heights again. but when she tried to move, she found she couldn't. her legs seemed to have turned into putty. everything was swimming before her eyes.

"what are you doing, pole? come back-blithering little idiot!" shouted scrubb. but his voice seemed to he coming from a long way off. she felt him grabbing at her. but by now she had no control over her own arms and legs. there was a moment's struggling on the cliff edge. jill was too frightened and dizzy to know quite what she was doing, but two things she remembered as long as she lived (they often came back to her in dreams). one was that she had wrenched herself free of scrubb's clutches; the other was that, at the same moment, scrubb himself, with a terrified scream, had lost his balance and gone hurtling to the depths.

fortunately, she was given no time to think over what she had done. some huge, brightly coloured animal had rushed to the edge of the cliff. it was lying down, leaning over, and (this was the odd thing) blowing. not roaring or snorting, but just blowing from its wide-opened mouth; blowing out as steadily as a vacuum cleaner sucks in. jill was lying so close to the creature that she could feel the breath vibrating steadily through its body. she was lying still because she couldn't get up. she was nearly fainting: indeed, she wished she could really faint, but faints don't come for the asking. at last she saw, far away below her, a tiny black speck floating away from the cliff and slightly upwards. as it rose, it also got farther away. by the time it was nearly on a level with the cliff-top it was so far off that she lost sight of it. it was obviously moving away from them at a great speed. jill couldn't help thinking that the creature at her side was blowing it away.

so she turned and looked at the creature. it was a lion.

1、在体育馆后面

那天是个阴沉的秋日，吉尔;波尔在体育馆后面哭泣。

她哭的原因是他们一直欺侮她。由于本书写的不是学校生活的故事，所以我将尽量少谈吉尔学校里的事，那可不是个愉快的话题。她这学校是一所”男女同校”，一所男女生兼收的学校，通常称之为”男女混合”学校，有人说学校还不如学校管理人脑子里的所想那么”混”。这些人有种想法，认为应该允许男生和女生喜欢干什么就干什么。

不幸的是有那么十个到十五个大龄男女生最喜欢干的就是欺侮同学。各种各样的事，各种各样可怕的事，要出在一所普通学校里，不消半学期就会查出来，加以制止，可在这所学校里却没这么办。或者，即使这些事被查出了，干这些事的人也没被开除或受处分。校长说他们是些有趣的心理学方面的实例，派人去找他们，跟他们谈上几个小时。如果你懂得跟校长说些投合他心意的话，其结果是你就此成了个宠儿。5

这就是吉尔;波尔在那个阴沉的秋日，在体育馆后面和灌木丛之间那条湿漉漉的小路上哭的原因。她还没哭完，就有一个男生双手插在口袋里，绕过体育馆墙角，吹着口哨走来几乎撞上了她。

“你走道就不能看看吗?”吉尔;波尔说。

“好了，”男孩说，”你不用吓……”说到这里他才注意到她的脸。”喂，波尔，”他说，”出什么事了?”

吉尔只是做了几个怪脸;当你想说些什么，可又觉得要是说了，又会哭起来时才做那种怪脸。

“我看，照例——又是他们吧?”这男生脸色严峻地说，两手在口袋里插得更深了。

吉尔点点头。即使她说得出口，她也不必再说什么。他们俩都明白。

“行了，瞧，”这男生说，”我们大家这样可没用……”

他的用意固然不坏，可他说话的确像人家开讲大道理一样。吉尔突然发起脾气来(如果你哭的时候被人打断，八成也会出现这种情况)。

“啊呀，走开，少管闲事，”她说，”没人请你来乱插嘴吧?你倒真是个好人，居然开口教我们大家应该怎么着，对吗?我猜你意思是我们应该用所有的时间讨好他们，像你一样拍马屁，奉承他们。”

“哦，老天啊!”这男生说着在灌木丛边的草坡上坐下，又赶紧站起来，因为草是透湿的。不幸的是他的名字就叫尤斯塔斯;斯克罗布1，不过他人倒不坏。

“波尔!”他说，”你这样说公平吗?这学期我干过那种事没有。我不是为了兔子跟卡特顶过吗?我不是保守了斯皮文的秘密吗——还受到折磨呢!我不是……”

“我不——不知道，我也不关心。”吉尔抽抽搭搭地说。

1在英语中，尤斯塔斯谐音为”没用的..斯克罗布谐音为”卑鄙的”。

斯克罗布看出她不大对劲儿，就十分乖巧地递给她一块薄荷糖。他自己也吃了一块。不一会儿，吉尔头脑就清醒一点了。

“对不起，斯克罗布，”不久她说，”我是不公平。这学期——你是做了好多事。”

“要是你忘得了，就忘掉上学期的事吧。”尤斯塔斯说，”当时我还是另外一种家伙。我——唉l我当时是个多坏的讨厌鬼啊。”

“嗯，老实说，你当时确实很坏。”吉尔说。”那么你看我已经变了吗?”尤斯塔斯说。

“不单是我，”吉尔说，”大家都这么说。他们已经注意到了。埃莉诺;布莱基斯顿昨天在更衣室里听见阿黛拉;潘尼法瑟说起这事。她说，‘有什么人在左右斯克罗布那小子。这学期他相当不听话。下一步你们得照应他了。

尤斯塔斯一阵哆嗦。实验学校里的每一个人都懂得被他们”照应”是怎么回事。

两个孩子都沉默了片刻。月桂叶上的水珠一滴滴往下滴。

“上学期你怎么会跟现在大不相同呢?”过了一会吉尔问道。

叫段期里我碰上了好多怪事。”尤斯塔斯神秘地说。

“哪种事?”吉尔问。

尤斯塔斯久久没吭声。后来他说

“听着，波尔，你我都恨这个地方，要多恨有多恨吧?”

“我知道自己很恨。”吉尔说。

“那么我真的认为自己完全信得过你了。”

“你这人真好。”吉尔说。

“是啊，不过这件事真是天大的秘密。波尔，我说，你对神怪的事会相信吗?我是说这儿的人听了都会取笑的事?”

“我根本没有机会听。”吉尔说，”不过我想我会相信的。”

“如果我说上回假期里我曾走出过世界——走出过这个世界——你能相信吗?”

“我不知道你是什么意思。”

“得了，那就别管世界不世界了。假定说我告诉你，我到过一个地方，那里的动物都会说话，那里还有——呃——魔法和龙——还有——这个，凡是你在童话里碰到的东西都有。”斯克罗布说这些话的时候觉得狼狈不堪，脸也红了。

“你怎么上那儿去的?”吉尔说。她也觉得怪不好意思的。

“你只有一个办法好去——就是靠魔法，”尤斯塔斯几乎像在说悄悄话，”我是跟我两个表兄妹去的。我们就那么——下子走掉了。他们以前去过那儿。”

由于他们是在说悄悄话，吉尔不知怎么就觉得这事比较容易相信。接着她心里突然又大为怀疑，她说(气势汹汹，看上去真像只母老虎):

“要是我发现你是在捉弄我，我就永远不再跟你说话，决不，决不，决不。”

“我没有，”尤斯塔斯说，”我发誓我没捉弄你。我凭——凭一切起誓。”

我念书那时，人家会说”我凭<圣经〉起誓。”但实验学校里是不提倡念<圣经〉的。

“好吧，”吉尔说，”我就相信你。”

“不告诉任何人?”

“你把我当成什么入了?”

他们说这些话的时候都很激动。可等他们说完了，吉尔往四下一看，只见阴沉沉的秋日天空，又听得树叶上的滴水声，不由想到在实验学校毫无出头之日(他们一学期有十三个星期，还有十一个星期要过呢)，她说:

“可到头来，又有什么好处呢?我们又不在那儿，我们在这儿口而且我们根本不能上那儿去，你说我们能去吗?”

“我一直都在想这事，”尤斯塔斯说，”我们从那个地方回来的时候，有人说佩文西家那两个孩子(就是我那两个表兄妹)永远不能再上那儿去了。要知道，那回是他们第三回去了。我看，他们已经去够了。但他根本没说我不能去。如果他的意思是说我不能回去，他包管早就那么说了。因此我不禁纳闷，我们能不能——能不能……”

“你的意思是想个办法实现这想法?”尤斯塔斯点点头。

“你的意思是我们可以在地上画一个圈——在圈里用希奇古怪的文字写点什么——然后站在圈子里——再念上几段咒语?”

“嗯，”尤斯塔斯苦苦思索了一会儿才说，”我相信我就是在想这种事儿，但我从来没试过。既然谈到这个节骨眼上，我倒觉得所有那些圆圈之类都是荒唐事。我认为他不见得会喜欢。那样做看上去就像是我们以为自己能叫他做事似的。不过说真的，我们只能问问他。”

“你一直在念叨的这人是谁啊?”

“在那个地方，人家叫他阿斯兰。”尤斯塔斯说。”多古怪的名字!”

“才比不上他本人怪呢，”尤斯塔斯一本正经地说，”不过我们接着说下去吧。问问也不妨。让我们就这么并肩站着。伸出双臂，掌心向下:就像他们在拉曼杜的岛上那样——”

“谁的岛?”

“那个我下回再告诉你。而且他可能喜欢我们面向东方站着。我们看看，哪一面是东面?”

“我不知道。”吉尔说。

“姑娘们就这点特别，她们根本不识指南针的方位点。”尤斯塔斯说。

“你也不识，”吉尔愤愤不平地说。

“不，我认识，只要你别老打断我就行了。现在我认出来了。面对月桂，那边就是东面。嗨，你肯跟着我念词儿吗?”

“念什么?”吉尔问。

“当然是我就要念的词儿日罗，”尤斯塔斯答道，”来吧……'

然后他开始念了”阿斯兰，阿斯兰，阿斯兰!

“阿斯兰，阿斯兰，阿斯兰。”吉尔跟着他念一遍。”请让我们俩进入……”

就在这时，体育馆另一边传来呼喊声”波尔?对了，我知道她在哪儿口她正在体育馆后面哭鼻子呢。要我把她拉出来吗?”

吉尔和尤斯塔斯相互看了一眼，就赶紧冲到月桂树下，开始爬上陡峭的灌木丛的泥坡，速度之快真为他们大大增光。(由于实验学校的古怪教学法，学生并没学到多少法文、数学、拉丁文一类的课程，可是倒真学到了一旦他们在找他时迅速悄悄脱身的好多办法。

大约爬了一分钟，他们停下来留神细听，从种种声音听出他们给人钉上了。

“只要那扇门再开开就好了i”他们一路爬着，斯克罗布说，吉尔点点头。因为灌木丛上方有一道高高的石墙，墙上有扇门，穿过这扇门你就可以出去，到开阔的荒野去。这扇门几乎老是锁着。不过人们有时也发现门开着;也许只有过那么一次。不过你可以想像，即使记得只有一次，也就让人们抱有希望，打算试试那扇门;因为要是那扇门正巧没锁，那倒是一个神不知鬼不觉走出校园的绝妙办法。

这会儿吉尔和尤斯塔斯两人因为在月桂树下弯下腰一路走来，弄得浑身又热又脏，气喘吁吁，爬到墙边。那扇门照常关着。

“准没用，”尤斯塔斯一手拉着门把手，说着说着，”哦——哦，老天爷在上i”因为门把手转动了，门开了。

刚才那会儿，他们俩心里还想着，要是那扇门万一没锁上，就飞快地跑出去。但等这门真正开了，他俩却都站着一动也不动。因为他们看见的跟他们料想中的景象可大不一样。

他们原以为会看见荒原上灰不溜秋、长满石南的山坡越来越高，一直通向阴沉沉的秋日的天空，没料到迎面却看见了一片强烈的阳光。阳光照进门口，就像你打开汽车间门，六月里大白天的太阳照进来一样。阳光照得草地上的水珠像珍珠一样闪闪发亮，也使吉尔满是泪痕的脸显得一副脏相。而且据他们判断这阳光一定来自一个不同的世界。他们看见柔嫩的草地，比吉尔以前所见过的更柔嫩，更明亮，还有蓝蓝的天，还有一些发亮的东西在空中飞来飞去，很可能是珠宝或是大蝴蝶。

虽然吉尔一直渴望见到这一类东西，她还是感到惊恐不已。她看看斯克罗布的脸，看出他也害怕了。

“来吧，波尔。”他说话时气都喘不过来了。”我们能回来吗?安全吗?ji吉尔问道。

正在这时，后面有个声音在叫喊，是个卑鄙、恶毒的小嗓门，叽叽喳喳叫道”行了，波尔，大家都知道你在那儿。你下来吧。”这是伊迪丝;杰克尔的声音，她本人还不算是他们一伙的，不过是个跟班和爱搬弄是非的小人而已。

“快！”斯克罗布说，”喂，拉住手。我们千万不能分开。

她还没弄明白怎么回事，他就抓着她的手，拉着她出了门，出了校园，出了英国，出了我们这整个世界，到了那个地方。

伊迪丝;杰克尔的声音突然没了，正如你一关上收音机，里面的声音就突然消失一样。他们周围顿时响起一种完全不同的声音。声音是从他们头顶上那些发亮的东西发出来的，他们马上看出原来是鸟。它们正发出喧闹的声音，不过这种声音比起我们世界里鸟儿的歌声更像音乐——相当先进的音乐，乍一听你还不大领会得了。然而，尽管有歌声，背景却是无比寂静。那份寂静，加上空气新鲜，使吉尔想到他们一定是在一座很高的山顶上。

斯克罗布仍然拉着她的手，他们向前走着，一面朝四周张望。吉尔看见四面八方都长着那种参天大树，很像雪松，但更大些口不过这些树木长得并不密，树下也没有矮树丛，无遮无拦，树林左右老远老远都看得清。吉尔放眼望去，看到的景色全是一样的——平坦的草地，五颜六色的鸟儿飞来飞去，有黄的，有蜻蜓蓝的，有彩虹色的，蓝森森的阴影，一片空荡荡。那凉爽清新的空气中连一丝风也没有。真是一座非常冷清的森林。

正前方那边没有树木，只有蓝天。他们一言不发，笔直地朝前走，走啊走的，突然间吉尔听见斯克罗布说”小心！”接着就觉得自己猛地朝后收住脚步。他们正站在悬崖边上呢。

碰巧吉尔对高地很有头脑。站在悬崖边上，她竟毫不在意。她对斯克罗布把她拉回来相当恼火——”就当我是个小娃娃似的。”她说——说着猛地挣脱了他的手。她看见他脸色变得非常苍白，就瞧不起他了。

“怎么啦?”她说。接着为了显示她并不害怕，居然真的站得离悬崖边很近;事实上，比她心里想站的地方近多了。然后她朝下面望望。

如今她才明白斯克罗布脸色发白是有道理的，因为在我们世界里没有一座悬崖能与这座相比。想像一下你自己站在据你所知是最高的一座悬崖顶上。再想像一下你自己正朝崖底看。再想像一下悬崖继续一直往下，往下，十倍于此，二十倍于此。而当你朝那么远的下面看去，第一眼你可能在想像中把那些小白点错认为羊群吧，但不久你就知道那是白云——不是雾气形成的小云卷，而是又大又白，蓬蓬松松的云层，一片片大得像群山一样。透过这些云层之间，你才终于第一眼看到了那真正的崖底，那么远，那么远，远得你都看不出下面究竟是田野还是树林，是陆地还是水面。你在崖顶上离云层上面还不算远，崖底离云层下面更远。

吉尔目不转睛地望着下面。她这才想到也许自己毕竟该从悬崖边上往后退一两步的，可她生怕斯克罗布会怎么想，又不愿退。后来她突然决定，不管他怎么想，她巴不得赶快离开这可怕的崖边，再也不取笑任何不喜欢高地的人了。但等到她想动弹的时候，却发现自己动不了啦。她两条腿似乎都被捆住了口眼前一切都在旋转。

“你在干什么呀，波尔?回来——头号小傻瓜i”斯克罗布大声喊道。可他的声音似乎来自很远很远的地方。她感到他在拉她。可这会儿她已经控制不了自己的手脚。在悬崖边上挣扎了一会儿。吉尔心里太害怕了，头太晕了，都不大记得自己干了什么，不过有两件事是她这辈子都忘不了的(她还经常梦见这两件事呢)。一件是她挣脱了斯克罗布的手;另一件事是与此同时，斯克罗布本人惊恐地尖叫一声，失去平衡，一头滚下深渊。

幸亏她还来不及想想自己干了些什么。一只颜色鲜艳的巨兽已经冲到悬崖边上。它躺下，探出身子，吹着气(这可真是怪事)。不是怒吼，也不是喷鼻息，而是张大嘴巴吹气;悠悠地不断吹啊吹啊，就像吸尘器在吸一样。吉尔躺着的地方离这只动物那么近，都感觉得到这股气在它身体里沉稳的震动。她躺着一动不动是因为起不来口她差点晕过去了:其实，她但愿自己真的晕过去，不过不是想晕倒就能晕倒的。后来她终于看见了，在她下面很远的地方，一个小黑点正从悬崖飘开，而且稍微往上飘了一点。黑点一升起，就飘远了。等到黑点升到和悬崖差不多高的时候，已经飘得远远的，她就此看不见了。显然这个黑点已飞快地离开了他们。吉尔不禁认为就是她身边这动物把那个黑点吹走的。&

于是她回过头来看看这动物。原来是一头狮子。